Another early morning for me and I sat on the balcony using the computer. The kids eventually stirred and we ate chocolate croissants and donuts for breakfast. Tony FaceTimed us - with Winky (the cat) on his knee looking healthy and happy - she'd been missing for a couple of days and it was a massive relief to see her. I'd been having such a good time and also feeling bad that I was so happy while the cat had potentially disappeared. I had a shower then packed while the kids watched some YouTube videos. I was all packed up before 9.30 - it's so much easier when it's just our stuff and not the tent as well! I took one load of stuff down to the car, then got some ice for the eskies (there was an ice maker in the corridor) and loaded myself and the kids up with another load to take to the car. The kids sat in the foyer and I asked the concierge to bring down the rest of the luggage, then I went and checked out. When our luggage arrived I went to get the car, and loaded it all in. I moved the car back down to the carpark near the trailer and headed back inside.
We headed back through the gift shop and up to the monorail station - Amelie was excited to finally get to go on the monorail. We did one circuit around SeaWorld and enjoyed seeing everything again, and it was fun seeing it from that perspective. Back at the resort the kids sat in the foyer while I went down and hitched up the trailer. It was SO hot - mid 30s at least, and very humid. I'm glad I didn't have to do a full pack up. The kids came down once I was ready, and we drove out to Paradise Country, the 4th attraction on our unlimited access tickets.
The drive from Wet n Wild to Paradise Country was a longish road with lots of speed humps. We drove through the paddocks holding the horses for Outback Spectacular, that was pretty cool (we'd seen the horses from the top of some of the rides on Monday, that was also cool). I pulled into the carpark and realised that it wasn't a loop and there was nowhere to park the trailer, so I had to back out. I got most of the way then a guy came and helped me with the last little bit. I parked in the 'additional parking' area and managed to find somewhere in the shade that would be easy to get out of.
The walk to the entrance was quite long, sunny and very very hot. Amelie really found it hard and I did wonder if it was worth it. We went in and tried to find a water fountain but there didn't seem to be one. We went down to the animal nursery and fed some goats and sheep, thankfully in the shade, then went into the barn and fed piglets, alpacas, ducks, more lambs and kids. It was fun, especially helping one of the keepers try the piglets on apples.
We decided we'd experienced enough so made our hot way back to the car, and drove back to Wet n Wild. I dropped the kids off and found somewhere to park the trailer - it was a fair way from the entrance but it was, again, in shade. Once inside we parked our stuff on the tables, got into our swimmers and refilled our soft drink cup (we had to pay a reduced amount to reactivate it). Liam and Caitlin went to the wave pool and Amelie and I went to the Junior slides. I did the mini tornado with her, then the mini half pipe, and she did all the other junior slides. One of them she was sitting and sliding slowly down and a kid came barrelling down headfirst behind her and ran into her - he and his parents thought it was hilarious, Amelie wasn't so amused.
We played together on the water playground for a while (I wasn't allowed on the slides there but could climb and walk around). We went into the Junior pool and the other kids came back. Liam and I went on the tube river and floated around once while the girls went on the junior slides again. They met us at the river and jumped in for a circuit as well. It was very refreshing and relaxing.
Amelie wanted to go on Mammoth Falls again, so we headed over there for a fun raft ride down the half pipe. We had a quick swim in the wave pool then back to get dressed again, feeling much cooler than we had been earlier in the day. I'd promised the kids a bucket of soft serve ice cream if we got the chance, so we took it in turns to add ice cream (vanilla, strawberry, chocolate and choc mint) and toppings (caramel, chocolate, lime, and sour worms, jelly beans and gummy bears), refilled our soft drink again, then reluctantly left our last theme park. (We'd thought about going back to Movie World again, but it had been such a perfect day yesterday that none of us really wanted to spoil it). I was impressed on all 4 days, at all 4 parks, at the staff - everyone was friendly and helpful and enjoyable to talk to.
We ate our ice cream as we headed towards Brisbane. The traffic was heavy but was moving the whole way. The ice cream was delicious and the toppings good, but the lollies were a bit much and most didn't get eaten. We saw DreamWorld on our way past and compared some of the rides there to what we'd been doing. There were still no caravans on the road - really odd. As we approached Ipswich we finally did see a caravan being towed - the first one (and no camper trailers) we'd seen since just north of Byron Bay.
We arrived at our friends' house around 4.45pm. My kids and the other kids were so excited to see each other and settled straight into playing on the trampoline and in the backyard. We spent a relaxed evening in and out of the house, watching Netflix, playing with the kittens and playing games. My friend and one of their kids came home from dancing later in the evening - it was so good to see her. The kids set up lots of mattresses in the lounge room and they all slept out there (all 7 of them). I slept in one of the kids rooms after a long long chat with my friend.
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